WNBA Finals 2025: How the Aces took a 3-0 lead over the Mercury


PHOENIX — The Mercury rallied to overcome a 17-point deficit in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals, tying the score with a minute to play. But for the third time in as many games, Phoenix came out on the losing end.

A’ja Wilson’s last-second jump shot sealed the Las Vegas Aces’ 90-88 victory on Wednesday, leaving the Mercury on the brink of getting swept.

And yet, the look on Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts’ face afterward was recognition, not resignation.

“It’s not a team that is just, like, figuring it out,” Tibbetts said. “They’re a well-oiled machine.”

The No. 2 seed Aces will try to close out the best-of-seven series Friday in Game 4 (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) to win their third WNBA championship.

The third-seeded Mercury looked to have momentum entering the Finals, going 5-2 in the playoffs and knocking off top-seeded Minnesota in the semifinals. The Aces, meanwhile, were pushed the distance in both of their first two postseason series. Even in Game 1 of the Finals a week ago, Las Vegas trailed Phoenix by seven early in the fourth quarter.

So, how did the Aces arrive at the chance to pull off the first WNBA Finals sweep since 2020? They’ve stayed one step ahead of the Mercury, riding a combination of coach Becky Hammon’s strategic defensive schemes, timely performances from reserves, and a trusted core trio — four-time MVP Wilson, star Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray, one of the savviest point guards in league history — in its third Finals in the past four years.

“I’m incredibly proud of them,” Hammon said of her team after Wednesday’s victory. “They’ve put a ton of work in off the court, and I think it really shows on the court.”

The path here had its bumps. For the first 2½ months of this season, the Aces hovered around .500 before an epic 16-game winning streak led them into the playoffs. On July 3, Las Vegas lost 81-54 at Indiana, a performance Hammon called “one of the worst games I’ve ever seen” and “a complete lack of professionalism.”

“I don’t really have any answers for you,” Hammon said then. “If I knew what buttons to push to make sure our effort was appropriate every night, I’d be pushing those buttons. We would have won five or six more games if we just played harder. That’s a way to flit away a season.”

Hammon spoke that bluntly and harshly because she knew a strong tie binds the Aces, even in tough times. Back-to-back No. 1 draft picks Wilson and Young have played together for seven seasons, a relative eternity in today’s pro sports world. Gray has been with them the past five years.

In the offseason, the Aces traded away Kelsey Plum and added another past No. 1 draft pick at guard, Jewell Loyd. A starter most of her WNBA career, Loyd willingly moved to the bench in late July.

Now, at the time it means the most, the Aces’ stars not only are producing, but the team’s long-honed cohesion and crucial depth off the bench, along with enough variety in its defensive schemes, also have kept the Mercury on their heels. Here’s a look at how Las Vegas has done it.

Game 1: Las Vegas 89, Phoenix 86

Loyd and fellow reserve guard Dana Evans scored a combined 39 points. That offset the Mercury doing the best job they’ve done all series in limiting the damage from Wilson and Young. That duo still had a combined 31 points, but it wouldn’t have been nearly enough without Evans and Loyd.

Hammon also switched to a zone defense for 18 plays, on which the Mercury shot 4-of-15 with three turnovers, according to ESPN Insights. ESPN’s Kevin Pelton noted, per GeniusIQ tracking, that the Aces had not previously played more than seven possessions of zone in any game since July 6, long before their turnaround this season. The Mercury couldn’t have expected to see so much of it in Game 1, and it changed the momentum.

“We practice it enough and have conversations about it enough that we can go to it when needed,” Gray told ESPN on Thursday.

Wilson said of switching to zone in the first game: “When Becky gets into the Finals, you don’t know what she may pull out, and you have to be ready.”


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1:09

Aces down Mercury for 2-0 WNBA Finals lead

Jackie Young and A’ja Wilson combine for 60 points to boost the Aces to a win in Game 2 over the Mercury.

Game 2: Las Vegas 91, Phoenix 78

Las Vegas didn’t play any zone defense, instead switching on all on-ball screens and holding the Mercury to their second-lowest point total of the playoffs.

“I’m really confident in our defense,” Gray told ESPN. “It might not be the normal rotations that you would see, but because we know personnel and our team’s tendencies, we’re able to feed off of that. I’m happy with our effort, whether we go big or small.

“Communication is more than half the battle, especially early in the game. But now at this point of the season, there’s also a lot of things that can be communicated nonverbally because we just know.”

Also, Young (32 points, 8 rebounds) and Wilson (28, 14) were the best version of their dynamic duo. Young’s 21 points in the third quarter were the most in any quarter of a WNBA playoff game since the league went to four quarters from two halves in 2006.


Game 3: Las Vegas 90, Phoenix 88

Hammon mixed up defenses early — using some zone, some “junk” — to disrupt what had been fast starts by the Mercury in the first two games.

“I didn’t like our starts,” Hammon said. “Defensively they had jumped out on us. [Wednesday] I just wanted to do something else to where I didn’t have to call the first timeout. Make them do it.”

Tibbetts did that at the 5:10 mark of the first quarter after Loyd’s 3-pointer put Las Vegas up 15-8. The Aces built their lead to 17 going into the fourth quarter. Even though Phoenix rallied to tie the score 88-88 with 1:01 left, the Aces were still holding the best card — Wilson.

After Megan Gustafson defended Alyssa Thomas and got the rebound of her missed shot with 17.3 seconds to play — another Las Vegas reserve making a clutch play — the Aces had the final possession. Hammon called a timeout with 5 seconds left, and her instructions were simple: Let Wilson do her thing.

Now, Las Vegas is one win away from a championship in the first season of a best-of-seven WNBA Finals. But the difference between a 3-0 series lead and 2-1 is, to use a regional example, Grand Canyon-sized.

“These are the little things that I work on in the offseason or just during the season,” Wilson said of how she has been ready for the moment. “Just to put myself in situations that I can get to my spots and make it a little bit easier on our offense.”



#WNBA #Finals #Aces #lead #Mercury

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